ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular imaging 2011 August;55(4):469-75

Copyright © 2011 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Bone marrow disease detection with FDG-PET/CT and bone marrow biopsy during the staging of malignant lymphoma: results from a large multicentre study

Pelosi E. ¹, Penna D. ¹, Douroukas A. ², Bellò M. ², Amati A. ¹, Arena V. ¹, Passera R. ², Bisi G. ² ✉

¹ PET Centre, IRMET SpA, Turin, Italy; ² Nuclear Medicine Unit, San Giovanni Battista Hospital, University of Turin, Italy

AIM:To compare the accuracy of bone marrow biopsy (BMb) and positron emission tomography (PET) in bone marrow disease (BMD) detection, in a large multicentre population of patients with new diagnosis of malignant lymphoma.
METHODS:PET and BMb were performed to complete disease staging in 337 consecutive patients: 130 Hodgkin’s disease (HD), 207 aggressive non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of both techniques in BMD detection were evaluated and compared.
RESULTS:87 patients with BMD (25 positives at both exams, 27 only at the BMb and 35 only at the PET study). PET vs. BMb were reordered: sensitivity: 69% vs. 59.8%; specificity: 99.2% vs. 100%; accuracy: 91.4% vs. 89.6%; positive predictive value: 96.8% vs. 100%; negative predictive value: 90.2% vs. 87.7%.
CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of PET and BMb is similar (69% and 60%, respectively), PET and BMb are complementary: in fact out of 87 patients with confirmed BMD only 25 are positive at both exams, while 27 only at the BMb and 35 only at the PET exam; the integration of PET findings with BMb ones increases the diagnostic accuracy. Consequentially PET is essential during the staging of malignant lymphomas.